Torpedo protection.



Patented Oct. 16, 1917.

S. L. G. KNOX. TORPEDO PROTECTION APPLfcATroN FILED 056.8. m16. 3L,243,42?

S. L. G. KNOX. TORPEDO PROTECTION. APPLICATION man neas. 191e.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

Patented Oct. 16,

64? f5 africane S SAMUEL L. GRISWOLD KNOX, OIE SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

TORPEDO PROTECTION.

LdSAiQT.

Specification of Lettcrslatent. Patnted Get. 16, 91?.

Application led December 8, 1916. Serial No. 135,749.

To ZZ w/wm t may conce/m.'

Be it known that I, SAMUEL L. GRrswoLD KNOX, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Torpedo Protection; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to ships and especially to a construction thereof adapted to prevent or greatly delay sinking as a result of accident or attack.

Protecting a ship against sinking by putting heavier steel construction in the hull and providing stronger decks, bulkheads and frames, has limitations which have been exceeded by modern explosives and the speeds obtained bymodern ships. The kinetic energyof a rapidly moving ship or of a powerful explosion can not be resisted by mere rigidity of construction, within feasible limits, without the yielding of some parts of the construction. It the disturbing force is small in proportion to the strength of the resisting body, the latter yields only within the limits of its elastic strength and is comparatively unharmed, but no construction yet devised can withstand the destructive effect of modern eX- plosives without considerable or even fatal damage. Not only adjacent the point of attack, but throughout the entire length of the ship, the eil'ect of the explosive is apparent in a wrenching of the framework, disrupting of the bulkheads, and loosening or breaking of the rivets, so that as a matter of fact massiveness and rigidity of construction, by transferring the local distortion and displacements resulting from a collision or explosion extensively throughout the ships structure, often become sources of danger while lightness of construction, whereby the energy of the explosion, slightly restrained, can therefore dissipate itself locally, may be an element of safety'.

As an element of protection, in adition to heavier construction, various devices have been devised to absorb the energy of an eX- plosion with the idea ,that this energy is thereby prevented from damaging the main construction of the hull. Such devices as have been proposed, however, would at the present time have little or no effect in kpreventing destruction by the powerful weapons now in use. To overcome the serious and fundamental structural limitations outlined above as well as the inedectiveness of alleged protecting devices, the present invention briefly described contemplates the provision, within all of the watertight compartments of a vessel, of flexible supplementary walls or linings forming watertight baglike compartments to prevent the entrance of water in case the normal steel bulkhead walls of the compartments should be so strained and loosened as to fail to resist the incoming water. The present practice of dividing ships into many compartments is not only intended to reduce the chances of sinking in case of accident, but contributes largely to the necessary structural strength of the ship. It has therefore been assumed that in general compartments would be built as at present, andV the leXible bulkheads used in connection with the steel bulkheads. However where more compartments, or different arrangements of compartments, are desired for dotation purposes than are necessary or desirable for strength alone, these flexible bulkheads could be used alone to divide larger steel walled compartments, and thus increase the subdivision of the ship to provide increased flotation in case of accident, without seriously increasing the weight or the cost of the ships structure. The ilexibility of the proposed walls permits them to yield without being injured by distortions and displacements which would loosen or tear the adjacent steel construction, while at the same time they are sufficiently reinforced to resist any pressure to which they may be subjected in case of emergency.Y

As tending to the attainment of the objects of the invention outlined above another feature thereof is the provision of certain loosely attached deck plates above each compartment which, while held sufficiently to prevent shifting under normal usage, will be easily blown out by the pressure of gases in any compartment resulting from an explosion, thereby giving a vent for the gases upward, and thus reducing the destructive eiect of the explosion upon the ships bulkheads. l

In order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect I will describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings` showing one embodiment thereof.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical'section of the forward part of the hull of a ship lshowing the. manner in which my invention is applied to the compartments and doorways thereof;

Fig. .2 is a vertical transverse section through the hull of the ship.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a door associated with the construction of the invention;

Fig. e is a. horizontal section through the door of Figl;

Fig. 5 is a detail of the upper part ofthe door frame showing the mode'of attachment of the flexible compartment linings.

Fig. S is a sectional view showing the construction of the reinforced lining.

Y Fig.v 7 is a. face view of the same lining; Fig. 8 is a detail view showing the mode of attachment of the flexible linings; and

F ig. 9V is a section of the hull of a ship showing. the action of the iexible linings after an explosion has taken place.

Referring now to the drawings, in which similar reference characters. denote similar parts throughout the several views7 the hull is shown somewhat diagrammatically in Figs. 1 and 2, and may be of any suitable hull construction. t is provided with outer plating 10 and three decks 11 each supported on deck beams. The interior of the hull between decks is divided into a number of compartments by transverse bulkheads 12. Communication between the compartments is obtained through doorways closed by watertight doors 13 `of anyY desired construction. The hull will be further subdivided by means of longitudinal bulkheads which, however, are omitted from the present drawing since they are not necessary to a disclosure of the invention.

The construction described above. shows in general the most essential elementsr of the hull and it is upon the rigidity and reinforcing of these elements by appropriate braces: that the strengthfof the hull depends. lt is usually sought to make the construction sufliciently strong so that compartments not directly subjected to accident or attack shall remain intact and thereby tend to. keep the ship afloat.k As pointed out above, however, the destructive effects of a collision at high speed, or of a modern torpedo or mine, may be so great as to render even thestrongest construction of little value for theabove purpose.

ln accordance with the present invention there is provided within each vcompartment a Ylining 14 composedof a network of. wire rope 15, Figs. 6 and 17, covered with.water,-`

it willbelly out to a somewhat spherical shape,and the strength of the wire rope network .is designed with reference to the spherical arc thus formed and the maximumpressure that canY come upon it so as tofsafely carry the resultant stresses.` he size of themesh of the wire ropey network is similarly proportioned with respect to strength of the canvas or vother watertight material. rlhe lining is attached to the interior edges of each compartment by suitable fastening means 18and at all corners as wellas at the points 19 where the edges ofthe lining are attached tothe decks the joints should be made watertight. The edges of the linings should be attached to other' linings nearest them in ladjacent comn partments, `by fastenings 20 passing through the steel compartment .walls so `that they will. be held approximately in` position, even should the compartment structure be so damaged Vthat its edges would beunable` to stu port the flexible lining should a full head of water come against it. The fastenings Q0 may be made of loops of ywirerope and the apertures where they passy through the plates may be packed with hemp .or `other material. Preferably the linings need not be placed overvthe lioors ofthe compartments as one layer will suffice for each compart ment surface and it would be more convenient to have them on the, ceiling ofthe un derneathi compartments.

Each compartment Alining will be provided with an auxiliary door on its .side of the main doo-nas shown in Figs. 3, d and 5. An auxiliary door frame, comprising two members 21 and 22 between which the edges'of thelining 1l are firmly secured, is attached by a few bolts or other fasteningdevices 23 to themaindoor frame rlhe fastening devices Q3 should be suthcient to-retain the auxiliary frame inplace under normal conditions, vbut designedtogive way if water pressure comes against the flexible bulkhead. Each auxiliary door frame is provided with a steel door hinged theretolas at E26.. and having. latches ln a ship provided with the construction described above certaindeckv plates overv each of the compartments as at 28 should preferably be loosely fastened to their-:supporting beams so that they may be easily detachedby an explosion It is expected yand intendedv that deck plates and flexible linings directly alcoveI the compartment in which an explosion` occurs shall betorn. loose or disrupted, as in thiswaythe'general yde'- structive effects of the explosion in other directions, where the harm would be greater, will be reduced.

The destructive effects of an explosion and the action of the flexible linings in preventing the flow of water even though the plates and frames of the ship are torn away or wrenched are portrayed in Fig. 9.

It is not contemplated that the flexible compartment linings in the immediate vicinity of an explosion or other accident will not themselves be destroyed, for it is assumed they will not be able to withstand the terric force of modern explosives. The decks, bulkheads and framework for a long distance from the point of the explosion might be wrenched and loosened, this being the reason for the loss of so many vessels which have been so designed that any two or sometimes more compartments can be flooded without causing the ship to sink. But the destruction of the corresponding flexible linings would be localized, since those portions not receiving the force of the explosion directly would yield readily, without rupture, to the distortion of much of the ships structure by a modern mine or torpedo, which distortion, extending far beyond the local destructive effects of the explosion, destroys rigid steel bulkheads. Thus the iexible linings would form a series of baglike compartments barring the progress of water throughout the greater portion of the hull of the ship. Furthermore, the loose deck-plates over the compartment or compartments where the actual explosion takes place would be blown out easily and quickly and so provide a number of outlets for the gases resulting from the explosion, which otherwise would tear their way in every direction with correspondingly greater destructive effect.

Various modifications or changes in the details of construction of my invention may be made without departing from the principle thereof.

I claim:

l. In a ship having a hull divided into a plurality of compartments, flexible linings or walls for the compartments, and means for supporting said linings upon the walls or edges of said compartments.

2. In a ship having a hull divided into a plurality of compartments, flexible linings or walls for the compartments, said linings being composed of canvas and wire mesh and means for attaching said linings to the surface or edges of said compartments and to each other.

3. In a ship having a hull divided into a plurality of compartments, a flexible lining or wall for each compartment composed of watertight material and a framework to which said material is attached, and means for supporting the linings upon the surfaces of the compartments.

4f. In a ship having a hull divided into a plurality of compartments, a flexible lining or wall for each compartment composed of watertight fabric and a metallic network to which said fabric is attached, and means for supporting the linings from the edges 0r on the surfaces of the'compartments.

5. In a ship provided with a plurality of compartments and communicating doorways therebetween, watertight flexible linings for the compartments, means for supporting the linings upon the walls or edges of the compartments, door frames inserted into the linings and surrounding the doorways between adjacent compartments, and doors mounted upon said door frames.

6. In a ship provided with a plurality of compartments and communicating doorways, watertight ilexible linings for the compartments, means for supporting the linings upon the walls or from the edges of said compartments, and door frames registering with the doorways between the compartments and each comprising members to which the edges of the flexible linings are secured, and a door mounted upon each door frame.

7. In a ship provided with a plurality of compartments and communicating doorways, watertight flexible linings for the compartments, means for supporting the linings upon the walls or from the edges of said compartments, door frames registering with the doorways between the said compartments and comprising members to which the edges of the flexible linings are secured, a door mounted upon each door frame, and means for supporting said door frames upon the frames of said main doorways whereby they may be easily detached therefrom.

8. In a ship provided with a plurality of compartments, special deck-plates forming portions of the tops and bottoms of the compartments, supporting members for the declcplates, means holding said deck-plates upon said supporting means but permitting the same to be easily detached therefrom, a watertight flexible lining for each compartment and means for attaching said linings to the walls or edgesof the compartments.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

SAMUEL L. GRISWOLD KNOX.

copies er this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,243,427, granted October 16,

1917, upon the application of Samuel L. Griswold Knox, of San Francisco, California, for an improvement in Torpedo Protection, errors appear in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line 37, for the Word explosive read explosion; page 2, line 65, for the abbreviation and numerals Figs 6 and 17 read Figs. 6 cmd 7; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the oase in the Patent Oce.

Signed and sealed this 29th day of January, A. D., 1918.

[SEAL] R. F. WHITEHEAD, 

